Workout of the Day

Mar 04

The Inside Line

When driving on a windy road, especially at higher speeds, such as when driving through a curvy portion of the freeway, keeping your eyes on and your car tied to the inside line of the curve keeps you in your lane and yields a smoother turn. On the other hand, if you keep your vision focused on the outside line of the lane and your focus on staying away from that line, you’re more likely to dip out of your lane, have a choppy turn, or overcorrect and end up all over the place. Metaphorically, this looks a lot like human motivation. Steer yourself with your eyes and direction fixed to where you want to be, and you’re likely to find yourself staying close to the line, within a lane, and with an overall smoother ride. On the other hand, steer yourself from a motive to avoid something -- to keep away from the outside line -- and you’re more likely to find yourself dipping over and across lines, further from the target, and taking a generally more choppy path. We could call this distinction the difference between running towards something and moving away from something, or even positive and negative motivation.

Both versions generally function to motivate, in that they provide a reason to behave in a particular way. And it’s also worth noting that any path will generally be filled with some elements of both moving towards something and away from something else. But for the smoother, more direct, and more productive ride, it may behoove us to keep our eyes on the inside line.